Bags, Uncategorized

Sewing with Violet + My Gen Q Cover

Happy Monday everyone! This morning I wanted to show you some bags that my 5-year-old, Violet, and I have been sewing lately. She’s not in kindergarten yet, so there’s ample time for sewing during the day. 😉 I would never push an activity on my kids, but when they are interested in doing something, I’m happy to facilitate.

My daughter wanted to sew a bag last week. She has her own ideas of what a bag should look like (“square”), but I tried to steer her toward this simple messenger bag that we (I) drafted ourselves. This fabric was from the Palm Springs line by Michelle D’Amore for Contempo Studio. Violet wanted to use the lining fabric for the strap, too.

I laugh because Violet is always wanting to sew one of my patterns, and she wants to make my Paparrazzi Bag – however, I think that bag, for her, is for a few more years still. 😉 When we drafted this red tulip bag, we had 1 piece for the exterior, 1 piece for the lining, 2 pieces for the flap, and then the strap. I tried to keep it simple, because much past 2 hours of sewing time and she starts to lose interest. And that’s pretty much the amount of time it took to make this together – 2 hours. I think her favorite thing is ironing the fabric and fusing the interfacing (that’s my girl!!).

I used these pretty buttons to adorn the flap. The buttons are handmade by a young entrepreneur named Hannah, from Fastenation Studio. Hannah has a ton of beautiful buttons in her shop. They arrived very quickly, and Hannah also made me this custom set of buttons; I wanted the buttons to match this Bari J. fabric that I wanted to use for a bag pattern. Isn’t it a perfect match? I wanted to use Bari’s fabric and the buttons for a stand-along bag pattern, but I’m working on my second book right now, so I think these will go in the book.

Here’s a bag that Violet and I made a couple of months ago, that I never blogged about. She wanted something very small, with a zipper in the top. We had seen a similar bag in our local quilt shop, and she always admired it. Of course I had to figure out how to do it myself, lol.

There’s the little recessed zipper on top. Because the bag is so small, it’s a little hard for her to get her fingers in and on the zipper. I’ll know better for next time. When Violet and I sew together, she sits on my lap and has full control of the pedal; she also handles the backstitch bar on my machine and the little button that cuts the thread, as well as lifting the presser foot when needed. I still need to help her guide the fabric at times, as it’s not always sewing in a straight line, but other than that, since we’ve done a few projects already, she understands about what areas need to start and stop the stitching on. We’re actually working on a little blanket today (one yard of cotton fabric, with one yard of fleece print fabric for the backing; just a simple blanket), which should be a fun and quick project for her.

And…over the weekend, the March-April issue of Generation Q magazine came out – and look who’s on the cover – Violet and I! I was so completely ecstatic that our picture made the cover – my grandmother took this photo of the two of us on the quilt I made using Tula Pink’s ‘Butterfly Quilt’ pattern. My son was supposed to be in the photo with us as well; we tried taking some photos the day before as he was off school due to the cold (I think it was about 40 below zero, or something like that), but the photos that we tried to take outdoors (in the walkway to the elevated train) didn’t work out – my kids were so cold that they were crying in all the photos. I felt terrible. So we did this re-take at my grandmother’s house, as she has a ton of natural light coming in. The weather just wasn’t on our side. He was a bit sad that he wasn’t on the cover with us, but he’s going to be working on some kids’ sewing projects for Gen Q soon, so I know he’ll get his chance. 🙂

Gen Q did an article about my first quilt in this issue, and also included is my bag pattern for the ‘Katydid Bag’. This bag is named after my best friend’s daughter, Katy. This is a bag with a paper-pieced star block on the front. I made it using Frances Newcombe’s line for Art Gallery Fabrics called ‘Safari Moon’. I used store-bought fake leather handles for the bag, and it also has a simple recessed zipper. I’m holding this great lap quilt that I made with Pat Bravo’s ‘Rapture’ fabrics for the shoot (the quilt pattern is Jaybird Quilts ‘Giggles’ pattern, available at your local quilt shop, which is fast and easy!).

I’ll finally be able to spill the secret that I’ve been keeping all winter, this Wednesday; but if you happen to have a copy of this issue of Gen Q, if you read through really hard, you can find it in the magazine. 😉

Hope you have a beautiful day!

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15 thoughts on “Sewing with Violet + My Gen Q Cover

  1. Sara – I love what you make and that you sew with your children. What a special time and she clearly has your eye for bags! Thanks for sharing this. And, I can’t wait to get a copy of Gen Q.

  2. Vicky Myers says:

    Wow – lovely. I am clearly too cautious re teaching my 7 year old to sew!!

  3. Congrats Sarah! How exciting for you 🙂

  4. Maria says:

    Congratulations for being on the cover Sarah. You are so lucky, you’re doing now what I hope to be doing in the future when one of my kids gives me grandchildren LOLLLLL Your daughter clearly has your talent and you should encourage it as much as possible. It’s also nice to have someone iron on the interfacing, that’s my least favorite job. LOLL

  5. Beth says:

    I love that picture of you and Violet on the cover. I will be getting a copy o fthe magazine on Wed when I head to Arlington Heights to teach. (With a stop at JoAnns…don’t tell on me ok?) I can hardly wait to get it in my hands. Congrats.
    I love the bag you two made. I also love Violet’s small bag….what cute fabric ;).

  6. Look at you! woo hoo xxx

  7. Such a cute photo. You look more like her high school babysitter than her mom. So nice that you sew together. She will cherish those memories forever. N

  8. Katy Cameron says:

    Well done cover girls! Violet did a great job on both bags :o)

  9. linynp says:

    Sara let violet know she’s awesome!!!!! Boy it’s genetic!!!
    Not fair I have to wait til Wednesday the magazine isn’t out yet.

  10. kateuk says:

    All absolutely great-except the weather…x

  11. Mine-rSewFun says:

    Can’t wait to get my issue!

  12. Vera says:

    Congrats cover girls! 🙂 Glad to see you doing so well!

  13. How exciting! Your picture with Violet is just adorable!

  14. Jen Beatty says:

    Congrats on the cover & story, I can’t wait to get my copy!

  15. Donna Baker says:

    what great bags, so great you’re sewing with your little girl. I don’t have kids but I taught my 7 1/2 yo niece to sew when I visited during Christmas, it was kind of rushed and we live states away so I am bummed we can’t sew all the time. Her mom doesn’t seem to make the time like I would, lol. congrats on the cover photo, it’s so special. Now I’m going to have to subscribe (I got my first copy ever just a few weeks ago, it’s a great magazine!)

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